Florida State, Notre Dame to meet in Champs Sports Bowl

'Noles to play in bowl for only second time, will face Notre Dame for first time since 2003

December 4, 2011|By Coley Harvey, Orlando Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE — After weeks of speculation, the rumors and conjecture can finally be laid to rest. Florida State will indeed be coming to Orlando later this month for a postseason showdown with Notre Dame.

The Seminoles and Fighting Irish officially accepted bids Sunday night to play in the Champs Sports Bowl. The game will be played at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29 at the Citrus Bowl. ESPN will broadcast the game and stream live coverage on ESPN3.com.

"You had two fine teams, two eight-win teams that deserved to be here, Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan said. "(They're) two teams on the rise that are going places and will probably be BCS (bowl) teams in the future.

"The fact that we had a chance to get them here in Orlando … just made it all that much more special."

FSU will be making its second Champs Sports Bowl appearance, while Notre Dame will be making its first. The game also will mark the first meeting between the two programs since 2003. The Seminoles won that game in South Bend, Ind., 37-0. FSU leads the all-time series 4-2.

The Fighting Irish will be particiapting in their first Champs Sports Bowl. Last season, they dismantled Miami 33-17 in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

The Seminoles earned a 26-17 win over South Carolina last year in the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.

"As a coach, in your lifetime, that's one of the schools you'd like to play and like to coach against just because of the appreciation of their history," FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said of Notre Dame.

As late as Saturday it appeared the Seminoles had a chance to make a return to the Chick-fil-A Bowl. In the days leading up to Sunday's bowl announcements, there was wide speculation that the bowl would court the Seminoles if Clemson had lost Saturday night's ACC Championship Game to Virginia Tech.

Had that happened, the Chick-fil-A Bowl would have had to decide between potentially three ACC teams. If it had lost the conference championship, Clemson, as the runner-up and true No. 2 would have been debated against 8-4 FSU, 8-4 Virginia or 8-4 Georgia Tech. Whichever team wasn't picked for the Chick-fil-A Bowl would fall to the Champs Sports committee.

"We felt good about who was there," Hogan said. "We had some eight-win options."

The speculation was mostly put to rest Saturday night when Clemson beat Virginia Tech, 38-10. The win gave the Tigers an automatic bid to the BCS Orange Bowl in Miami. Despite the title game loss, Virginia Tech also earned a BCS bowl bid, landing in the Sugar Bowl.

Virginia ended up receiving the Chick-fil-A Bowl bid.

FSU won its only other Champs Sports Bowl appearance. The Seminoles blew out Wisconsin 42-13 in 2008. Placekicker and punter Graham Gano was the game's MVP.

Previous to that game, the Seminoles also won the Champs Sports Bowl's predecessor, the inaugural Blockbuster Bowl, in 1990. Since the Blockbuster Bowl, the game has undergone six name changes. Champs Sports became the title sponsor in 2004.

"Very talented defensively, great athletes," Kelly said. "Their numbers speak for themselves. It will be a challenge for us."

As of last Friday, ticket sales for this year's bowl had already exceeded the 50,000 mark, with many seats still available through packages offered by the participating schools, and the bowl itself. The Citrus Bowl can seat more than 70,000.

This year's game will be announced by play-by-play broadcaster Joe Tessitore. He'll be assisted by analyst Rod Gilmore and reporter Holly Rowe.